Mountain City's Travel Blog

2026 marks a century after the passing of beloved Impressionist artist, Claude Monet. The museum devoted to his work in Giverny, the community north of Paris that has become synonymous with Monet and the water lilies and gardens he immortalized on canvas, presents a retrospective exhibition. From March 27 to July 5, 2026, the Musée des Impression Giverny hosts "Monet in...

A river cruise on the Rhone allows you to indulge in French cuisine, culture, scenery and lifestyle – and you’re going to want to take the best of the best of the region home! Our river cruise on the Emerald Liberte on the Rhone took us from Lyon, north on the Saone river, then down the Rhone to some of...

The EU’s Capitals of Culture program was designed to showcase the cultural riches of European cities that might not otherwise get the attention they deserve. Every year, new cities are designated that represent the incredible diversity of Europe’s landscapes, history, and resulting unique lifestyle heritage of different parts of the union.  A year-long calendar of events brings visitors from their...

Imagine your ideal European summer escape. Chances are, one of the sounds you hear is the splashing water of a fountain in the town square on a lazy afternoon. From ancient times, communities were built up around their local source of water. Eventually, many European cities then gave their sources of water sculptural and architectural treatments. That transformed them from...

I can’t overstate it: 2022 is special for European travel. If you don’t visit in 2022, you’ll be kicking yourself forever. Have it all to yourselfLeading up to the pandemic, the most popular cities were getting a bit overrun. Before the crowds return in full force, early 2022 may be the best year of your lifetime to visit Venice, Barcelona,...

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a video is running commentary. That's why we wanted to share with you exactly what the health protocols on board an Avalon Waterways river cruise in France are in the Fall of 2021. We know some people have already begun traveling again - but others are still hesitant. Maybe you wonder if...

The secret about river cruising was out, even before the pandemic. Like all cruise travel, it's the ‘easy button’ way to ‘sample’ multiple destinations and get an overview of a region. You unpack once, really settling in to your ship environment like a home away from home in a floating boutique hotel that winds its way through marquee cities as...

In 2021, UNESCO created a new, transnational World Heritage site: 11 towns in 7 European countries that collectively make up The Great Spa Towns of Europe. All of the towns developed around natural mineral water springs, many of which were used therapeutically from Europe’s earliest history. Together, the Great Spa Towns of Europe represent the international European spa culture that grew...